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Jake’s Blog: A Unique Race in a Special Place!

At 6:30 in the morning we left our house for the Iron Horse Classic Bicycle Race. When we arrived we pre-rode a steep, loose section of the 7 miile, 1,000 ft. of elevation gain race course 2 times so that we had the perfect line down the half mile long descent.

After our pre-ride we linned up for the Iron Horse XC, MTB and noticed that we were going to race the junior 13-14 year old national champion Christopher Blevins. Our XC race started on a half mile of paved road. I was pleased that I was able to keep up with Christopher, but once we got to the super steep, loose climb his strength and age allowed him to pull away from me. A mile after the second climb I caught a glimpse of Christopher in the bike maze. seeing Christopher motivated me to go twice as fast on the trail, which weaved through the pinon forest and through the BMX and pump tracks. I flew down the half mile technical descent. I’m sure that I was able to close the gap on Christopher through this section since age and strength weren’t a factor on this part of the course! The last few 100 meters of the course had a few interesting obstacles. The first being a wooden bridge that the XC racers went over while the criterium racers went under and riding down a staircase into an alley way. Although our obstacles were neat, even cooler was that the pro racers got to ride through the Steamworks Brewery.

The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic has many different races, including one-of-a-kind, super fun XC course: the Durango to Silverton road race, Iron Horse Time Trial and Criterium and Citizen races. Whether you’re a road or MTB racer you should consider racing at this unique event in 2013!